Hello and happy Monday,

Today's main headlines:

• Kompyte acquired by US SEO giant SEMrush 💸

• Loyal Guru land €8M 💰

• Barca to develop own NFT & Metaverse 👀

Barcinno stands with Ukraine 🌻

Barcinno's mission is to highlight and unite the local creators, designers, and innovators who are changing the landscape of this beautiful city. 

However, there are times when world events force us to pause and take stock of what truly matters. One of those times is now. So we want to make sure our stance is clear: We stand with the people of Ukraine 💛💙.

We hope for this war to end as soon as possible to spare any more death, hardship and distress for millions of people. Our thoughts and prayers go to those who have lost loved ones, are currently in the midst of unimaginable horror and whose life and future are still at risk.

In solidarity with Ukraine, we dedicate this newsletter to its brave citizens. That’s also why you’ll find a slight change in this edition as we begin with a section focusing the Ukrainian startup & tech ecosystem.

👉 If you want to support the people of Ukraine:

• Here's how you can help from Barcelona

• Here's how you can help from anywhere in the world

Ukrainian startup & tech news:

• 18 Ukrainian tech leaders to follow on Twitter

• More than 100 startups have offices in Ukraine. Founders are rushing to protect their employees

• European startups supporting Ukraine: An overview

• How Ukraine is spending crypto donations

• Glovo CEO Oscar Pierre shares the email sent to its Ukrainian team detailing the company’s support plan

• Want to support the people in Ukraine? Here's how you can help

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• B2B SaaS startup Loyal Guru secure €8M 

• BCN-founded, San Fran-based UX pioneers UserZoom receive strategic €800M growth investment

• Football performance app developers Oliver raise €700K

• SME & startup fintech platform Finergia land a €300K first round

• Barcelona-born competitive intelligence firm Kompyte acquired by US SEO giant SEMrush 

• Events platform Partfy merges with Madrid-based Celebrents 

• Edtech platform Learnlife launches equity crowdfunding campaign

Barcelona startup news

• Proptech Housfy launches its first physical store in Eixample with plans to invest €10M in 20 more across Spain

• TravelPerk launch GreenPerk API, a tool to measure carbon footprint & enable businesses to reach travel reduction targets 

• Oncology-focused healthtech MatchTrial win 6th edition of Cuatrecasas accelerator 

Spanish investment news

• Spain knocks France off 3rd spot for most seed-stage investments in February

• US & Spain-based Kubernetes platform Oktetogets €13.3M

• Madrid medtech startup Bitsphi Diagnosis lands €2.85M

• Madrid-based CBD product site ProfesorCBD raise €1M 

• Digital platform FuelYourBrands obtains €210K & reaches a network of 6.5K influencers

• Spanish co-founded blockchain securities firm Securitize acquire Pacific Stock Transfer

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Transcend Network launch their first fund for pre-seed work & education startups 

• All Iron Ventures develops platform to contact investors, find talent & hire services

• Alantra generated record revenues of €315M (+77.2%) & €56.1M (+93.2%) net in 2021

• Alma Mundi Ventures open second insurtech fund of over €110M

• K Fund’s Leadwind welcomes €70M to invest in deeptech companies in Spain & LATAM 

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• CorreosLabs open 4th edition of its Lehnica Challenge accelerator for automation, cybersecurity, CX, fintech & data-driven startups; apply until April 1st

• EIT Manufacturing open call to give grants up to €1.5M to any size business creating smart, AI, robotics, or automation solutions in the European industry; first phase until March 11th, 2nd until April 29th

• ISE Open Innovation Challenge, a B2B international meetings event, is looking for 8 corporations providing new technologies/solutions; apply until April 29th 

• Aigües de Barcelona partners with Digital Future Society to promote innovative sustainability startups

• Telefónica’s Wayra announce global open call at 4YFN for startups in the metaverse, Open2metaverse

• Spain’s first ICT accelerator SeedRocket launch a new edition of Campus for Entrepreneurs aimed at new-tech-focused startups; apply now

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Abacum: NYC-BCN fintech founded by Travel Perk & Wallapop ex-CEO

• Biel Glasses: BCN couple’s AI glasses created for their visually impaired son

• Inbrain and Neuroelectrics: 2 women-led brain-computer interface (BCI) startups going up against Musk’s Neuralink

• Laura Urquizu: CEO at Red Points, “We have earned the respect of the private sector. The startup is for resilient people"

• Nora Real Food: digital meal order service delivering fresh, nutritionally balanced dishes

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Barca president plans to develop NFTs and build its own metaverse to draw new supporters & revenue

• Catalonia & Barcelona have Europe’s best foreign investment attraction strategy according to FT

• DFactory Barcelona incorporates four new startups into its robotics lab and 3D printing division

• Government report shows Catalonia’s industrial & tech-focused Digital Economy make it a European tech haven

Mobile World Congress 2022 Special

• GSMA say MWC contributed €240M to Barcelona economy & will create 6,700+ part-time jobs in 2022 

• “We got a visit from Microsoft”: local startups share how 4YFN @ MWC allowed them to network with big companies 

• Tech Barcelona shared a daily summary of everyone at 4YFN 

• 14 Catalan startups in the digital cultural sector participated in 4YFN 

• Assessments & predictions of future Spanish unicorns from 4YFN

• For those who didn’t make it: best of MWC22 

• A look back on all the big smartphone news & releases

• - But apparently, the most intriguing launches weren’t phones

Tech & big company news in Spain:

• Spain's Supreme Court to review the current ratio of taxi to VTC licenses after Cabify requested another 12K

• Demium discover that only ⅓ of new Spanish startups are women-led 

• SEPI will increase its stake in Indra by 10% to 28%, costing the state €150M

• Dutch global payments platform Adyen to open new tech hub in Madrid 

• Spain gives antitrust clearance to NortonLifeLock for its €6.8B merger with Avast

• Volkswagen to open a Spanish battery plant in Valencia 

• Telefónica Tech to partner with AWS & extend the scope of Microsoft collaboration

Politics, Legal & Economics

• The Hacienda fines IBM a record-breaking €50M

Good Reads

• ‘CleanCode is not what you think’ by BeJao Fit CTO Juan Macías

• Industry trend: ophthalmology-focused startups had a record year for VC funding in 2021

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Rapid reponse: invest in first principles (podcast by LinkedIn co-founder & investor Reid Hoffman) (EN)

• How has the great resignation changed the way startups hire? TechCrunch fintech podcast (EN)

• Interview with Xavier Pont, co-founder of Ship2b Foundation (ES)

• Interview with Pau Ramón (CTO of Factorial) & Àlex Rodríguez (CEO & co-founder of MarsBased) about company tech and programmer salaries & boot camps (ES)

• Blockchain Radio – Geopolitics and Digital Assets: What's Happening? (ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Mon, 7 Mar @17:00: Angel Investing: Peer Learning group with expert

• Mon, 7 Mar @19:30: Women’s workshop: Landing a job in the tech industry and learning to negotiate your salary

• Tue, 8 Mar @19:00: Open Coffee Startup Networking. Open conversations about startup life & fun

• Tue, 8 Mar @18:30: International Women’s Day – Learn How To Build A Landing Page online coding workshop

• Tue, 8 Mar @19:00: Women who inspire: Sustainability and transformation

• Wed, 9 March: Tech.eu online fintech: a closer look at its past, present and future in Europe

• Thu, 10 March @19:00: Panel Discussion: Closing the gender wealth gap through technology

• Thu, 10 Mar @18:00: Education Cycle: Educating in the metaverse

• Thu, 10 March - Sat, 12 Mar: RootedCON cybersecurity conference with hackathon & bootcamps

• Fri, 11 Mar @16:00 - Sat, 12 Mar @16:15: 0Waste Hackathon 

Upcoming:

• Wed, 16 Mar @18:30: Startup Grind BCN hosts Alex Huertas (Co-founder @ Northweek)

• 26-28 Jun: European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona

See the full event calendar here & add your event here.

Jobs

• Bourbon Creative is looking for a:

• - Freelance Content Writer (Native German, 100% remote)

• - Freelance Content Writer (Native Spanish, 100% remote)

• - Freelance Content Editor (Native Spanish, 100% remote)

• Caravelo is looking for a:

• - Senior Backend Developer (Java)

• - Business Intelligence Analyst

• Freeverse is hiring a Head of Marketing

• Riverbed is recruiting a:

• - Digital Sales Representative (Dutch/Swedish/Danish)

• INARI.IO is looking for the following:

• - Brand and Content Marketing Manager

• - Customer Success Manager

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions